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HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. Feb. 26) – The National Education Board is yet to consider the application of Cornell University-Solomon Islands for a license to operate in the Solomons.

A member of the National Education Board, Dr Derick Sikua, the Education Permanent Secretary, says the board at its last meeting, in late 2004, deferred its consideration on the matter because new information about Cornell University had came up.

Dr Sikua says the board felt it had insufficient information about the proposed institution at that time, and when additional information had emerged it felt it proper to postpone deliberations on it until it is satisfied with the information it has on the University.

He says the first meeting of the National Education Board will be held towards the end of April when the board will consider the application.

Dr Sikua explains the board's decision is subjected to approval by the Minister for Education...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Mar. 1) – The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has lost its appeal against a U.S. District Court decision declaring that all submerged lands in the Northern Marianas belong to the United States.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday to affirm a federal court's decision upholding the sovereignty of the United States over some 264,000 square miles of submerged lands in the Northern Marianas.

The appellate court ruled that U.S. sovereignty over the CNMI's submerged lands is paramount and that the Covenant that established a special political union between the Commonwealth and the federal government supported the latter's control over those lands.

It said that the CNMI lost its title to the submerged land when it agreed to U.S. sovereignty, a similar decision in the claims of other territorial jurisdictions such as California, Texas, Louisiana and Maine.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Feb. 28) – A member of the Royal Solomon Islands Police, Martin Fini, has been charged with a number of serious offences, including arson and intimidation.

Constable Martin Fini, who was suspended from active duty a year ago, was arrested in Honiara on Thursday night. He appeared in the Honiara Magistrates Court last Friday charged with two counts of arson, three counts of intimidation, one count of demanding property with menace and one count of willful and unlawful damage or destruction.

The court heard that on the morning of December 23, 2001, Mr Fini allegedly removed a police vehicle without permission from the Auki Police Station in Malaita and later damaged another police vehicle.

It was also alleged that on March 5, 2002, Mr Fini and two other men fired shots from the street, hitting the Foodland Restaurant in Auki.

Police alleged that a number of bystanders were threatened at this time.

PAPEÉTE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, Feb. 28) - A replica of the H.M.S. Endeavour that brought Lieutenant James Cook to Tahiti for the first time on April 13, 1769 arrived in Tahiti’s historic Matavai Bay on Sunday nearly 236 years later.

"Look. A pirate ship," a group of Tahitian children shouted excitedly at 7:30 a.m. as they spotted the three-masted vessel with most of its white sails flying arriving in the same historic bay that Cook did. Only this time, the H.M Bark Endeavour and its crew were arriving from the Marquesas Islands on a voyage that began in England last November and will end at home in Australian around mid-April.

"When Captain Cook arrived at this precise place, the welcome that the population gave him had to resemble the extraordinary welcome that we received today," said Chris Blake, the present captain of the Endeavour, as he walked along the black sand beach next to Venus Point three-and-a-half hours...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Yokwe Online, Feb. 28) - Minister in Assistance to the President, Witten T. Philippo, formally announced last week in the Nitijela the appointment of Bobby Muller as the new Republic of the Marshall Islands Chief Secretary.

During the Cabinet’s meeting last week, the Commissioners of the Public Service Commission formally submitted their appointment to President Kessai H. Note and the members of the Cabinet.

During a special meeting Friday morning in the President’s Office, President Note thanked the former Chief Secretary Phillip K. Kabua and welcomed Chief Secretary Bobby Muller. "Chief Secretary Muller will be filling ‘big shoes,’" said President Note. "He is capable and the Cabinet is confident with the Public Service Commissions’ appointment. On behalf of the Government, I thank Ambassador Phillip Kabua for his years of service and welcome Chief Secretary Muller."

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Feb. 28) - The relocation of the attorney general's office is costing taxpayers $14,380 a day. Some cases also have been pushed back because of uncertainty over where the office can move.

It is costing taxpayers about $14,380 a day to pay 75 employees at the attorney general's office, most of whom are concentrating on packing up and moving out of the Guam Judicial Center instead of working on hundreds of unresolved and new court cases.

Five people were not magistrated yesterday and four cases will not be brought before the grand jury this week because of the eviction of the attorney general's office from the HagÃ¥tÃ±a building, Attorney General Douglas Moylan said.

Although the attorney general's office closed its doors to the public and will remain closed today, a handful of cases were still magistrated and two criminal cases went to trial yesterday, including a government corruption case...

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Mar. 1) – The 1,400 people of Tokelau are faced with a massive clean-up job in the wake of Cyclone Percy, which has been described as the worst to hit the islands in living memory.

The island's administrator, Neil Walters, happened to be in Tokelau on business when the cyclone struck, coinciding with "king tides" that swamped the islands under up to a meter of sea water.

After a similar cyclone in 1966, much of Tokelau's population was relocated to New Zealand, as many traditional fale houses were destroyed.

But Mr Walters says that is unlikely to happen this time, and plans are already being made to rebuild.

"That's going to be pretty daunting, but again, people here are tough and resilient and they'll get on with it," he said. "We'll send up maintenance teams, whatever is needed to supplement what they've got here."

A ship carrying the first emergency supplies is not expected to arrive in Tokelau until the...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Feb. 28) - Two former caddies with three accomplices attacked and robbed a Japanese executive while he was playing golf at the Port Moesby Golf Club on Saturday, police reported.

The victim, an executive with a Japanese trading house in Port Moresby, was accosted by his assailants, who were armed with two factory-made pistols and knives.

The executive lost a Rolex watch, a pair golf shoes and golf clubs valued at K900 and K15 in cash.

The Japanese, who suffered serious injuries to his head, hands, fingers and knees, was rushed to the Pacific International Hospital for treatment. He was later flown to Australia for further treatment.

Two of the suspects are known, as they were both caddies at the Port Moresby Golf Club.

The Japanese Embassy has written to NCD/ Central Police Commander Tony Wagambie requesting him to bring the criminals to justice.

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, Feb. 28) - Yaqona (kava) farmers on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji should plant yaqona for the international market rather than the local market, said Fiji Kava Council representative Apolosi Vularomo.

Vularomo, the council’s lone representative on the northern island, has been visiting a number of villages in Macuata and Bua urging them to plant for the international market rather than the local market.

He said the international market would be open in either June or July to six big countries in the world.

"I have been telling them to plant for the international market so they can meet the demands of countries wanting to buy yaqona from Fiji," he said.

Vularomo said he had sought the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture in the North on ways yaqona farmers could be assisted. The Ministry has developed a new system where yaqona and root crop farmers could be assisted. It has issued forms for farmers to fill out on the...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.